Percy Bysshe Shelley

Percy Bysshe Shelley (4 August 1792-8 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets and the husband of Mary Shelley. He was born in Horsham, Sussex, England to a Whig MP, and he became a poet during the Romantic period of the early 19th century. He was known as a radical in his political and social views, and he often spent time among progressive circles of the time. Most publishers and journals refused to publish his works lest they be accused of blasphemy or sedition, and he helped to inspire the Chartists. His views on economics and morality influenced Karl Marx, while his writings on nonviolent resistance influenced Leo Tolstoy. He drowned in a storm in the Gulf of La Spezia in 1822.